Putting together the pieces
by DahliaRose83
Summary: Ric wasn t sure where they stood at the moment. Things had been strained ever since Chicago. (Sixth part of my Dalaric Series)


**First I would like to thank Ghostwriter for the sweet reviews on all of my stories. I`m glad you like my writing.**

**So this is part six of my Dalaric-Series. I`ve decided that there will be ten parts to this series. Again I used a lot of the storyline, but changed it slightly.**

Putting together the pieces

Staring at the photos spread over his desk Alaric rubbed his tired eyes. He took the post-it note off one of the pictures and put it onto the one next to it. Nodding to himself he wrote 'werewolf' on another post-it and placed it onto the first picture. He was slowly getting the hang of this, but there was still a long way to go before he would be able to understand the drawings they had found in the cave underneath the Lockwood property.

He was pulled out of his musings by the arrival of Elena, who told him that she had talked to Rebekah about her family and was sure the blonde would come around. He looked at her doubtfully. "You're sure about that? I mean a thousand year old vampire, I'm sure, has learned the art of patience." he pointed out, just as Elena received a text. She read it and then showed it to him.

Surprised he noticed that Rebekah was asking her to come over. "She's a thousand year old vampire, who's joined the cheerleader squad... There is a whole different set of rules that play here, Ric. I got this." Elena told him, smiling triumphantly. He chose not to comment on this and rather go back to work. He couldn`t stop her when she had her mind set on something. The sound of the door closing told him that Elena had left again.

The teacher took another look at the pictures and decided he needed a break. Getting up to stretch his aching muscles he realized how long he had been sitting there. He got a drink and looked around the mess that was his apartment. He couldn`t remember the last time he had been here for more than ten minutes. After moving in with the Gilberts he had only occasionally stopped by to get a certain book or something, since most of his clothes and other belongings were at the Gilbert house anyway.

Damon had asked him a while ago why he insisted on keeping the apartment, when he clearly didn`t need it. Alaric had shrugged it off, claiming he liked to have some place to retreat to when he wanted to be alone. The truth was, he was still waiting for Elena and Jeremy to kick him out. And he was pretty sure Damon knew it.

Frustrated that once again Damon had invaded his thoughts without him really noticing he downed his drink and poured himself another one. Unfortunately looking at the whiskey bottle only reminded him of the last time he and Damon had been drinking at the Gril. With a sigh he went over to the window and stared outside, hoping to take his mind off the dark haired vampire. But it was no use. It was simply impossible not to think of Damon.

Ric wasn´t sure where they stood at the moment. Things had been strained ever since Chicago. Damon had avoided him after that, had even hit him when Ric tried to stop him from killing Bill Forbes. He had been really pissed after that. A black eye was hardly acceptable for a history teacher. And of course Damon hadn`t apologized. No, instead he went on a little road trip with Katherine and Jeremy, while Klaus and Stefan returned to Mystic Falls to wreak havoc.

Although Ric couldn`t really be mad at him for not being there. He had been in Mystic Falls at that time and hadn`t noticed what was going on either, drunk out of his mind as he was. He barely remembered that night. He could vaguely recall Damon bringing Elena home and getting him into bed. The rest however was a blur that had him wondering if Damon had really stayed at his bedside and promised to never leave him again or if he had only imagined that bit.

He didn`t dare ask the vampire, too afraid of the answer. Too afraid to upset the fragile balance they had found again. After Klaus' fateful return Alaric had tried to concentrate on the Gilbert siblings, hoping their drama would keep his mind off of his own. He had started teaching Elena to defend herself against vampires and had spent time with Jeremy, trying to get the boy to talk, to help with the problem of his girlfriends - both the living one and the dead ones.

But of course it hadn`t really helped to take his mind off a certain blue eyed vampire. And then there had been the problem with the ghosts, from Vicky Donovan busting their plan to capture Stefan, to the return of Mason Lockwood, who tortured Damon for revenge and then joined them for a few drinks at the Grill, like it was perfectly normal, before he showed them the hidden caves underneath the Lockwood property. And not to forget the tomb vampires trying to kill the council.

Once again Alaric had put his own feelings aside to help the others stave off the newest crisis. There was just no denying the fact that he and Damon were a good team. Now Stefan was safely locked away in a cell, hopefully on the way of starting to feel again, Klaus had left town at least for now and once Ric managed to understand those drawings they might even have a weapon to get rid of the original for good.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts he returned to the desk. The sooner he got this done the better. Looking at one of the symbols again he suddenly got an idea where he might have seen it before. He quickly sent a text to Bonnie and then concentrated on the other photos again. He actually managed to make sense of a few more symbols before the young witch appeared.

"I brought you the necklace that wouldn't die." she announced, holding up said necklace. She looked unhappy and Ric tried to cheer her up, telling her that Jeremy would learn eventually. She didn`t look convinced so he decided to change the topic and showed her one of the photos. "So, I've been staring at this image all day, wondering why it looked so familiar. I was right." He held the necklace next to the photo and Bonnie looked surprised. "It's the same design."

Ric nodded. "So, your grandmother said this necklace belonged to the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus, right? Well, this symbol is repeated all across the wall. I've been trying to figure out what it meant. And now I know..." He stuck a post-it to the photo and wrote the word 'witch' on it.

With Bonnie`s help he managed to translate a few more symbols. A while later he received a text from Elena, stating that she had gotten more information from Rebekah. Ric texted her back to meet them at the caves before collecting the photos and post-its and leaving the apartment.

Elena joined him and Bonnie at the caves about ten minutes later. He was already busy sticking post-its to the different symbols. "A Vampire, werewolf, slaughter, mayhem, etc." he explained. "That's the white oak tree that was used in the spell to create the vampires... which means that was when they burned down the tree, destroying the only way that they could be killed." Elena said, pointing to one of the symbols.

The teacher nodded. "Okay, so tree equals weapon, sort of. We already knew that. What we are not sure about is this: we've got the witch symbol, and what looks like a bleeding heart. Upside down figures usually signified death, of some kind." Elena told him that Mikael killed the witch by ripping out her heart, but she couldn`t tell how that symbol connected to the witch's death. Bonnie shrugged. "We don't know either. We haven't gotten that far."

Elena kept looking at the drawings and suddenly gasped. "Oh my god... Rebekah doesn't know the real story." Bonnie and Ric gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" Elena turned to look at the teacher. "It wasn`t Mikael who killed the witch. It was Klaus."

There was stunned silence for a minute. "What are we going to do now?" Bonnie asked finally. "I`m going to tell her the truth." Elena decided. Alaric wasn`t sure if that was a good idea, but he could see that her mind was set and knew he wouldn`t be able to stop her. So he only nodded and watched her go, before turning to Bonnie. "I guess we`re done here. Thanks for your help."

The witch smiled sadly and left as well. Ric took another look around the cave and wondered, not for the first time, how old it might be. What Mystic Falls might have looked like back when Klaus and his family had first come here. Finally shaking himself out of his trance he collected the post-its and left as well. He stopped by his apartment again to clean up at least the worst of the mess, before returning to the Gilbert home, where he prepared dinner.

A few hours later the teacher was on his way to his bedroom when he heard voices in Elena`s room. He paused for a second, recognizing Damon`s voice instantly, but then moved on. He didn`t want to eavesdrop, afraid he might not like what he would hear. Just knowing that Damon was in there was bad enough.

He had just gotten into bed when his door opened and a dark figure entered the room soundlessly. Sighing Ric sat up again. Damon stopped and stared at him for a long moment, seemingly surprised to be caught. "Did I wake you?" he asked finally. Alaric just shook his head. "No, you didn`t." Hesitating only a second Damon sat down on the bed next to him. "We got Mikael."

This statement caught the teacher off guard. He should be used to Damon catching him off guard by now, but somehow the vampire managed to surprise him time and time again. "How?" Damon shrugged. "No idea. I guess Katherine came through. You don`t want to know the rest, believe me. But anyways, plan's in motion."

"What plan?" Alaric asked cautiously. Damon`s plans weren`t always the best. And they were almost always dangerous. "Stefan is going to lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls so Mikael can kill him." The way the vampire put it it sounded easy. But Ric was sure it would be anything but that.

"And Stefan actually agreed to that? I thought he was compelled to do anything Klaus wants." the teacher wondered. "Well yeah, we found a loophole. Compulsion rarely covers everything." Damon told him. Ric took a second to process this information. And file it away for possible further use. "Okay, so that`s what you were doing today? Negotiating with Mikael?"

"I guess you could call it that. Actually I took a chance. I freed Stefan. And you know what: it backfired. He's an even bigger dick than ever... just now, he's a dick that's on our side." the vampire admitted. Ric wasn`t sure how he felt about that, but decided it couldn`t be worse than Stefan on a rampage. When he didn`t answer Damon continued: "You know, I think Mikael's weapon is a stake, 'cause he mentioned something about it..."

Ric shrugged and laid down again, suddenly tired. "Well, they must have carved it from the white oak tree before they burned it down." he murmured. "So I was right. After all that, the wall lead us to Mikael." Alaric resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, I guess you were right. And I think Elena got Rebekah on our side, too." he told the vampire, remembering his earlier talk with the girl.

"I know. She told me." was Damon`s only answer, which reminded Ric that the vampire had visited Elena before coming to him. He tried to ignore the stab of jealousy he felt at that thought and closed his eyes, hoping Damon might take the hint and leave. But he of all people should know that the vampire rarely did what was expected of him.

"She thinks that I`ll be the one to save Stefan from himself. Because I`m his brother and he loves me." Alaric opened his eyes again and looked up at the vampire, who was still lounging next to him. "What do you think?" he asked softly. "I think she might be right. At least I hope she is." Damon whispered.

In that moment he looked so vulnerable that it tore at Ric`s heart. Reaching out he tugged at the vampire`s wrist. "Stay?" He hadn`t meant for it to sound like a question. He hadn`t meant to sound so hopeful. Damon looked at him, his blue eyes shining with an emotion Ric couldn`t name. Finally he took off his shoes and pants and crawled into bed, cuddling into the teachers arms. Ric settled down, smiling slightly and feeling more content than he had in days. He closed his eyes and let Damon´s even breathing lull him to sleep.


End file.
